There are a wide variety of diseases and disorders that are caused by or result from cell membrane dysfunction and imbalance and derangement of fatty acids. It has been discovered that diseases and disorders such a seizures, Alzheimer's disease, depression, and atherosclerosis are either caused by or result in or from an imbalance of essential fatty acids in cell membranes.
Seizures
Over 53 million people worldwide suffer from epilepsy. Epilepsy primarily affects children and young adults. Epilepsy and seizures affect nearly 3 million Americans of all ages, at an estimated annual cost of $17.6 billion in direct and indirect costs. Approximately 200,000 new cases of seizures and epilepsy occur each year. Ten percent of the American population will experience a seizure in their lifetime. Almost 50% of new epilepsy cases occur prior to age 25. About 28% of epileptic patients have intractable epilepsy that is resistant to antiepileptic treatment [Antiepileptic Drugs; eds. R. H. Levy, R. H. Mattson and B. S. Meldrum; 4th Edition, Raven Press, NY, N.Y.; Aicardi, Epilepsy in children, 2d Edition, Raven Press, 1994].
A seizure is a paroxysmal event due to abnormal, excessive, hypersynchronous discharges from an aggregate of central nervous system (CNS) neurons, while epilepsy is a condition in which a person has recurrent seizures due to a chronic, underlying process. Experimental and clinical data indicate that the occurrence of repeated seizures can lead to an epileptic condition. Abnormal electrical discharges can arise in the brain due to various electrical or chemical stimuli. Certain regions of the brain including the temporal lobe and the deep nuclear aggregates of the motor cortex, the amygdala and the hippocampal structures of the limbic system are particularly sensitive to abnormal electrical discharges. An alteration in membrane permeability to extracellular calcium appears to be a critical event in the genesis of these abnormal electrical discharges and probably precedes paroxysmal neuronal discharge associated with epileptic seizures.
Epilepsy is a collective designation for a group of central nervous system disorders having in common the spontaneous occurrence of seizures associated with the disturbance or loss of consciousness. These seizures are usually, but not always, associated with characteristic body movements (convulsions) and sometimes autonomic hyperactivity. Seizure in epilepsy detonation is believed to originate in the non-specific subcortical mesodiencephalic reticular systems and diffuse bilaterally into the cerebral cortex. The motor cortex, the amygdala and the hippocampus have a low threshold and high susceptibility to seizure possibly due to the vulnerability of their vasculature to compression and biochemical disturbances. See, e.g., Glaser, “The Epilepsies,” Textbook of Medicine, Beeson and McDermott, eds., W B Saunders Co., Philadelphia, 1975, pp. 723-24.
Epileptic seizures are divided into partial and generalized seizures on the basis of the clinical manifestations of the attacks and the electroencephalographic (EEG) pattern. Each of these two general epileptic categories is then further subdivided into three or more subcategories depending on the classification scheme employed. The International Classification of Epileptic Seizures divides seizures into i) partial seizures (beginning locally) including simple partial seizures (consciousness not impaired) with motor symptoms, with somatosensory or special sensory symptoms, and with autonomic symptoms, ii) complex partial seizures (with impairment of consciousness) including beginning as simple partial seizures and progressing to impairment of consciousness, with no other features, with features as in simple partial seizures, with automatisms, with impairment of consciousness at onset, with no other features, with features as in simple partial seizures, and with automatisms, iii) partial seizures secondarily generalized, iv) generalized seizures (bilaterally symmetrical, without local onset) including absence seizures, atypical absence seizures, myoclonic seizures, clonic seizures, tonic seizures, tonic-clonic seizures, and atonic seizures) and v) unclassified epileptic seizures (data inadequate or incomplete).
Accurate diagnosis of epilepsy and seizures is essential since pharmacotherapy is highly selective for a particular type of epileptic seizure. For the treatment of epilepsy, drugs for oral administration such as Phenytoin, Carbamazepine, Valproic acid, Phenobarbital, ethosuximide, Clonazepam, clobazam and Primidone have been used. Recently, the treatment of epilepsy becomes more advanced owing to the newly developed drugs like vigabatrin, Zonisamide, Lamotrigine, topiramate, Oxcarbazepine and Gabapentine, etc. However, the results of the treatment of epilepsy using the said medicines are not satisfactory. The chances of controlling epilepsy with a single medicine are 60-70% and 20-25% requires co-administration of different medicines. The last 10% does not show any improvement with any of the said medicines.
It would therefore be extremely beneficial if there were a way to provide a combination therapy that simultaneously provides amelioration or treatment of epilepsy or related seizure diseases or disorders while at the same time addressing health issues associated with depleted phosphatidylcholine levels and increased sphingomyelin levels in cell membranes. Accordingly, there is a long felt need for discovering new compositions and methods that can achieve such therapeutic effects in patients with epilepsy or related seizure diseases or disorders.
The present invention as disclosed and described herein provides methods and compositions for a combination therapy that can be used to treat or ameliorate epilepsy or related seizure diseases or disorders indications while simultaneously addressing or clarifying or reducing higher sphingomyelin to phosphatidylcholine ratios.
Alzheimers
Alzheimer's disease (“AD”) is a dementing disorder characterized by progressive impairments in memory and cognition. It typically occurs in later life, and is associated with a multiplicity of structural, chemical and functional abnormalities involving brain regions concerned with cognition and memory. This form of dementia was first reported by Alois Alzheimer in 1907 when he described a disease of the cerebral cortex in a 51-year-old woman suffering from an inexorably progressive dementing disorder. Although other forms of dementia had been well characterized at the time of Alzheimer's clinical report, his patient was clinically and pathologically unusual, because of her relatively young age and the presence of the then newly described intra-cellular inclusions which have subsequently come to be known as neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). In recognition of this unique combination of clinical and pathological features, the term “Alzheimer's Disease (AD)” subsequently came into common usage.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. As of December 2013, this number is reported to be 36 million-plus worldwide. The prevalence of Alzheimer's is thought to reach approximately 107 million people by 2050. The cause and progression of Alzheimer's disease are not well understood. The progressive formation of amyloid plaques and vascular deposits of amyloid .beta.-peptide has long been considered the pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Only a few medications have currently been approved by FDA for treating the cognitive manifestations of AD, but none has indication of delaying or halting the progression of the disease.
In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the abnormal cleavage of beta amyloid protein precursor from the intracellular membrane often produces a protein Aβ1-42 which is incompletely removed by normal clearance processes. It has been reported that soluble β amyloid oligomers are highly neurotoxic. Moreover, over time, this soluble protein assemblage is deposited as a β amyloid protein Aβ plaque within brain tissue, leading to the local destruction of neurons. The Aβ plaque deposition is also believed to provoke an inflammatory response by microglia and macrophages, which recognize the plaque as a foreign body. These cells are believed to respond to the plaque deposition by releasing pro-inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Although the inflammatory response may be provoked in an effort to clear the brain tissue of the detrimental plaque, it is now believed that this inflammation also injures local neuronal tissue, thereby exacerbating AD. Soluble oligomers of β amyloid or “ADDLs” are a neurotoxic species implicated in AD pathogenesis. Yang, J. Biol. Chem., 280, 7, Feb. 18, 2005, 5892-5901.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the extracellular accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain composed of the 40 or 42 amino acid Aβ peptide. This extracellular accumulation of the Aβ 42 peptide is the hallmark pathology of the disease state and therefore thought to be the most important player in the cause of Alzheimer's disease. While another common lesion of the Alzheimer's disease brain is the presence of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles made up of abnormally phosphorylated tau, a microtubule-associated protein, currently, most evidence suggests that Aβ plays the central role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Nevertheless, the etiology of Alzheimer's disease is still poorly understood.
Recent advances in molecular genetics has suggested several genetic links to Alzheimer's disease including mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP), the presenilin 1 protein, .alpha.-2 macroglobulin (A2M), nicastrin, and APOE.epsilon.4. The chromosomal “hotspot” for late onset Alzheimer's disease (>65 years of onset, LOAD) has been mapped to 10 q. In contrast, the genetic loci for familial early onset Alzheimer's disease (<65 years of onset, EOAD) maps specifically to APP mutations at the .gamma.-secretase site or mutations in the presenilin 1 gene known to affect y-secretase activity. It is important to distinguish the difference between the genes linked to LOAD and EOAD. Most, if not all of the EOAD mutations found in presenilin, nicastrin, or the APP y-cleavage site, are linked to y-secretase cleavage. On the other hand, the genes linked to LOAD have no common link to Alzheimer's except for their ability to alter Aβ secretion from cells or clearance in the brain. Therefore, it seems clear that EOAD is caused by a specific defect in the y-secretase activity, while the specific defect(s) in LOAD is still not clear.
The Aβ peptide is generated by the endoproteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), a large type I transmembrane protein. The two enzymes that cleave APP in the amylogenic pathway are called the β- and .gamma.-secretases which cleave APP from the N- and C-termini, respectively. In this pathway, the β-secretase (BACE) is the rate limiting enzyme in the cleavage of APP, producing a sAPP-.beta. fragment that is secreted from the cell and a C99 fragment that is left in the membrane. The C99 fragment is the substrate for the .gamma.-secretase (GACE) which cleaves C99 to produce A β and a C99 “stub” that seems to function in a complex with Tip60 and Fe65 which derepresses a gene in the NF.kappa.-B pathway through IL-1.beta., KAI1 (a tetraspanin cell surface molecule). The genetic, biochemical, and molecular evidence for Alzheimer's suggests LOAD is likely to be polygenic and involve one or more genetic defects, familial and/or spontaneous.
In spite of the many research investigations and diverse studies undertaken to date, present clinical evaluations still cannot establish an unequivocal diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. To the contrary, the only presently known means for positively proving and demonstrating Alzheimer's disease in a patient can only be achieved by a brain biopsy or a postmortem examination to assess and determine the presence of NFTs and senile (amyloid) plaques in brain tissue. Instead, a set of psychological criteria for the diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease has been described, and includes the presence of a dementia syndrome with defects in two or more areas of cognition, and progressive worsening of memory and other cognitive function over time. However, by the time these psychological changes may be observed, significant irreversible neuronal damage has already occurred.
Furthermore, only a limited number of pharmacological agents heretofore have been identified as effective in treating symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in a person suffering therefrom. The most prominent of these today are tacrine and donepezil hydrochloride, which are cholinesterase inhibitors active in the brain. These drugs do not slow the progress of the disease. Furthermore no compound has been established as effective in blocking the development or progression of Alzheimer's disease although a number of compounds, including estrogen, ibuprofen, selegiline, are thought to possibly have this capability and are being investigated for therapeutic use for this purpose.
It is therefore clear that there has been and remains today a long standing need for compositions and methods to treat Alzheimer's disease in a living human subject before the disease has manifested far enough to produce psychological changes, thereby allowing earlier and more effective therapeutic intervention. It would therefore be extremely beneficial if there were a way to provide a combination therapy that simultaneously provides amelioration or treatment of Alzheimer's disease or related diseases or disorder while at the same time simultaneously addressing other health issues related to depletion of phosphatidylcholine levels and increased sphingomyelin levels in cell membranes. Accordingly, there is a long felt need for discovering new compositions and methods that can achieve such therapeutic effects in patients with Alzheimer's disease or related disorders or diseases.
The present invention as disclosed and described herein provides methods and compositions for a combination therapy that can be used to treat or ameliorate Alzheimer's disease or related diseases or disorder while simultaneously addressing or clarifying or reducing higher sphingomyelin to phosphatidylcholine ratios.
Atherosclerosis
Over 50 million Americans have cardiovascular problems, and many other countries face high and increasing rates of cardiovascular disease. It is the number one cause of death and disability in the United States and most European countries. By the time that heart problems are detected, the underlying cause, atherosclerosis, is usually quite advanced, having progressed for decades.
Atherosclerosis is a polygenic complex disease of mammals characterized by the deposits or plaques of lipids and other blood derivatives in the arterial walls (aorta, coronary arteries, carotid arteries). These plaques can be calcified to a greater or lesser extent according to the progression of the process. They are also associated with the accumulation of fatty deposits consisting mainly of cholesterol esters in the arteries. Cholesterol accumulates in the foam cells of the arterial wall, thereby narrowing the lumen and decreasing the flow of blood. This is accompanied by a thickening of the arterial wall, with hypertrophy of the smooth muscle, the appearance of foam cells and the accumulation of the fibrous tissue. Hypercholesterolemia can therefore result in very serious cardiovascular pathologies such as infarction, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, sudden death, cardiac decompensation, cerebral vascular accidents and the like.
The cholesterol is carried in the blood by various lipoproteins including the low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and the high-density lipoproteins (HDL). The LDL is synthesized in the liver and makes it possible to supply the peripheral tissues with cholesterol. In contrast, the HDL captures cholesterol molecules from the peripheral tissues and transports them to the liver where they are converted to bile acids and excreted. The development of atherosclerosis and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) inversely correlate to the levels of HDL in the serum. Gordon et al. (1989) N. Engl. J. Med. 1989 Nov. 9: 321: 1311; Goldbourt et al. (1997) Thromb Vasc. Biol. 17: 107. Low HDL cholesterols often occur in the context of central obesity, diabetes and other features of the metabolic syndrome. Goldbourt et al., supra. It has been suggested that low HDL cholesterol levels are associated with an increased risk of CHD, while high concentrations of HDL have a protective effect against the development of premature atherosclerosis. Gordon et al. (1986) Circulation 74: 1217. Studies demonstrated that the risk for developing clinical atherosclerosis in men drops 3% with a 1% increase in the concentration of HDL in plasma. Gordon et al. (1989) N. Engl. J. Med. 321: 1311. It has been established that concentrations of LDL cholesterol can be reduced by treatment with statins, inhibitors of the cholesterols biosynthesis enzyme 3-hydroxyl-3-methylglutaryl Coenzyme A reductase and thereby this treatment has been used as a successful approach for reducing the risk for atherosclerosis where the primary indication is high LDL level. However, it remains unclear whether statins are beneficial for patients whose primary lipid abnormality is low HDL cholesterol.
Angina pectoris is a severe constricting pain in the chest, often radiating from the precordium to the left shoulder and down the left arm. Often angina pectoris is due to ischemia of the heart and is usually caused by coronary disease.
Currently the treatment of symptomatic angina pectoris varies significantly from country to country. In the U.S., patients who present with symptomatic, stable angina pectoris are frequently treated with surgical procedures or PTCA. Patients who undergo PTCA or other surgical procedures designed to treat angina pectoris frequently experience complications such as restenosis. This restenosis may be manifested either as a short term proliferative response to angioplasty-induced trauma or as long term progression of the atherosclerotic process in both graft vessels and angioplastied segments.
The symptomatic management of angina pectoris involves the use of a number of drugs, frequently as a combination of two or more of the following classes: beta blockers, nitrates and calcium channel blockers. Most, if not all, of these patients require therapy with a lipid lowering agent as well. The National Cholesterol Education
Hypertension frequently coexists with hyperlipidemia and both are considered to be major risk factors for developing cardiac disease ultimately resulting in adverse cardiac events. This clustering of risk factors is potentially due to a common mechanism. Further, patient compliance with the management of hypertension is generally better than patient compliance with hyperlipidemia. It would therefore be advantageous for patients to have a single therapy which treats both of these conditions.
Coronary heart disease is a multifactorial disease in which the incidence and severity are affected by the lipid profile, the presence of diabetes and the sex of the subject. Incidence is also affected by smoking and left ventricular hypertrophy which is secondary to hypertension. To meaningfully reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, it is important to manage the entire risk spectrum. For example, hypertension intervention trials have failed to demonstrate full normalization in cardiovascular mortality due to coronary heart disease. Treatment with cholesterol synthesis inhibitors in patients with and without coronary artery disease reduces the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Currently there is no cure for atherosclerosis. Pharmaceuticals such as Statins, Fibrates, and Hypertension medications are helpful in lowering bad cholesterol (LDL), slight reductions in arterial plaque, and improvements in vasodilatation; all of which are symptomatic of Atherosclerosis. Unfortunately, for some of the millions of individuals at risk or dealing with this disease, lifestyle changes (i.e. diet and exercise) and combinations of these drugs are simply not enough.
It would therefore be extremely beneficial if there were a way to provide a combination therapy that simultaneously provides amelioration or treatment of atherosclerosis or related coronary heart disease indications while at the same time simultaneously addressing other health issues associated with depleted phosphatidylcholine levels and increased sphingomyelin levels in cell membranes. Accordingly, there is a long felt need for discovering new compositions and methods that can achieve such therapeutic effects in patients with atherosclerosis or related coronary heart diseases.
The present invention as disclosed and described herein provides methods and compositions for a combination therapy that can be used to treat or ameliorate atherosclerosis or related coronary heart disease indications while simultaneously addressing or clarifying or reducing higher sphingomyelin to phosphatidylcholine ratios.
Depression
Recent estimates indicate that more than 19 million Americans over the age of 18 experience a depressive illness each year. The American Psychiatric Association recognizes several types of clinical depression, including mild depression (dysthymia), major depression, and bipolar disorder (manic-depression). Major depression is defined by a constellation of chronic symptoms that include sleep problems, appetite problems, anhedonia or lack of energy, feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, difficulty concentrating, and suicidal thoughts. Approximately 9.2 million Americans suffer from major depression, and approximately 15 percent of all people who suffer from major depression take their own lives. Bipolar disorder involves major depressive episodes alternating with high-energy periods of rash behavior, poor judgment, and grand delusions. An estimated one percent of the American population experiences bipolar disorder annually.
Significant advances in the treatment of depression have been made in the past decade. Since the introduction of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), i.e., Prozac®, many patients have been effectively treated with anti-depressant medication. New medications to treat depression are introduced almost every year, and research in this area is ongoing. However, an estimated 10 to 30 percent of depressed patients taking an anti-depressant are partially or totally resistant to the treatment. Those who suffer from treatment-resistant depression have almost no alternatives. Thus, there is a need to develop alternative treatments for these patients.
Up to 10% of persons visiting a physician are afflicted with an affective disorder (also known as behavioural disorder, mood disorder). Nonetheless, most cases remain undiagnosed or inadequately treated. Affective disorders include among others, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. These diseases are well described in the literature; see, for example, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—4th Edition Text Revision (DMS-IV-TR), American Psychiatric Press, 2000.
Depression, also known as unipolar affective disorder, is characterized by a combination of symptoms such as lowered mood, loss of energy, loss of interest, feeling of physical illness, poor concentration, altered appetite, altered sleep and a slowing down of physical and mental functions resulting in a relentless feeling of hopelessness, helplessness, guilt, and anxiety. The primary subtypes of this disease are major depression, dysthymia (milder depression), and atypical depression. Other important forms of depression are premenstrual dysphoric disorder and seasonal affective disorder. Present treatment of depression consists of psychotherapy, antidepressant drugs, or a combination of both. Most anti-depressive drugs target the transport of the neurotransmitters serotonin and/or norepinephrine, or the activity of the enzyme monoamine oxidase. They include: Selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (e.g., fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, fluvoxamine), tricyclic antidepressants (e.g., amitriptyline, imipramine, desipramine, nortriptyline), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (e.g., phenelzine, isocarboxazid, tranylcypromine), and designer antidepressants such as mirtazapine, reboxetine, nefazodone. However, all existing anti-depressive drugs possess shortcomings such as long latency until response, high degree of non-responders, and undesirable side effects (Holsboer, Biol. Psychol. 57 (2001), 47-65). Therefore, a need exists in the medical community for new anti-depressive drugs with different mechanisms of action and improved pharmacological profile (Baldwin (2001) Hum. Psychopharmacol. Clin. Exp. 16:S93-S99; Greden (2002) J. Clin. Psychiatry 63(Suppl 2): 3-7).
Anxiety disorders are defined by an excessive or inappropriate aroused state characterized by feelings of apprehension, uncertainty, or fear. They are classified according to the severity and duration of their symptoms and specific affective characteristics. Categories include: (1) Generalized anxiety disorder, (2) panic disorder, (3) phobias, (4) obsessive-compulsive disorder, (5) post-traumatic stress disorder, and (6) separation anxiety disorder. The standard treatment for most anxiety disorders is a combination of cognitive-behavioural therapy with antidepressant medication. Additional medications include benzodiazepines such as alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, lorazepam, halazepam, chlordiazepoxide, and other drugs such as buspirone, clonidine, pagoclone, risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, ziprasidone. Nonetheless, there are a number of unmet needs in the treatment of anxiety disorders including the need for more effective, rapidly acting, and better tolerated medications; effective treatments for refractory disorders; prevention of relapse; and promotion of resilience and long-lasting response (Pollack, Psychopharmacol. Bull. 38(Suppl 1) (2004) 31-37).
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depression, is characterized by mood swings between periods of mania (i.e. mood elevation including exaggerated euphoria, irritability) and periods of depression. Bipolar disorder is classified according to the severity of the symptoms. Patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder type I suffer from manic or mixed episodes with or without major depression. In Bipolar Disorder type II, patients have episodes of hypomania and episodes of major depression. With hypomania the symptoms of mania (euphoria or irritability) appear in milder forms and are of shorter duration. The current drugs used to treat bipolar disorders are lithium, valproate and lamotrigine, which stimulate the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate. As with antidepressive drugs, they take weeks to become effective and can result in undesirable side effects, for example, high levels of lithium in the blood can be fatal (Sachs (2003) J. Clin. Psychopharmacol. 23(Suppl. 1):S2-S8).
Cushing's Syndromes are hormonal diseases with an estimated incidence of approximately 10 per 1 million persons (Meier and Biller (1997) Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am 26:741-762). Cushing's Syndromes are associated with an increased blood concentration of cortisol (hypercortisolism) or the presence of glucocorticoid hormone over a long period of time. The most common underlying cause of Cushing's Syndromes are excessive production of ACTH by the pituitary gland. As mentioned above, ACTH stimulates the growth of the adrenal glands and the secretion of other corticosteroids. Elevated ACTH levels are most often produced by pituitary adenomas. Cushing's Syndromes resulting from the production of ACTH in a location other than the pituitary gland is known as ectopic Cushing's Syndromes. Examples of ectopic sites include thymoma, medullary carcinoma of the thyroid, pheochromocytoma, islet cell tumours of the pancreas and oat cell carcinoma of the lung. Symptoms of Cushing's Syndromes include weight gain, central obesity, steroid hypersecretion, elevated urinary cortisol excretion, moon face, weakness, fatigue, backache, headache, impotence, mental status changes, muscle atrophy, and increased thirst and urination. At the pituitary level, CRH stimulates ACTH synthesis. ACTH overproduction by pituitary adenomas leads to excessive glucocorticoid secretion from the adrenal glands which causes endogenous Cushing's Syndromes, characterized by a typical abnormal fat deposition around the neck, thinning of the skin, osteoporosis, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, myopathy, amenorrhea and hypertension. Fatigue, irritation, anxiety and depression are also common clinical features in these patients (Orth (1995) N. Engl. J. Med. 332:791-803; Dahia and Grossman (1999) Endocr. Rev. 20:136-55).
Although to date no single cause of clinical depression has been identified, it is now generally accepted that there is likely a neurochemical component to it. Typical treatments now often consist of a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Currently, the most commonly used antidepressant medications function generally to regulate brain neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Two classes of compounds, one known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, and the other known as serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are widely prescribed for treatment of depression. These antidepressants, such as fluoxetine (Prozac®), sertraline (Zoloft®), venlafaxine (Effexor®) and duloxetine (Cymbalta®) have gained substantial popularity because they cause fewer side effects than earlier antidepressants, such as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Notwithstanding their improved tolerability, however, SSRIs and SNRIs still cause their share of side effects, including insomnia, nausea and sexual dysfunction. In addition to the associated problems, a major concern with known antidepressants is the time they take to achieve their desired effect. In most cases, it will be a minimum of three to four weeks before a full relief of symptoms is observed. In the case of severe depression, this delay can sometimes be life-threatening. Furthermore, only about two-thirds of patients treated actually respond to modern antidepressants. Thus, there continues to be a need for development of new antidepressant medications that will avoid some or all of the problems observed with those antidepressants currently in use. Based on a novel observation regarding the neurochemical basis for depression, the present invention fills such a need.
It is therefore clear that there has been and remains today a long standing need for compositions and methods to treat depression and its related diseases and disorders in a living human subject before the disease has manifested far enough to produce psychological changes, thereby allowing earlier and more effective therapeutic intervention. It would therefore be extremely beneficial if there were a way to provide a combination therapy that simultaneously provides amelioration or treatment of depression or related diseases or disorder while at the same time simultaneously addressing other health issues associated with depleted phosphatidylcholine levels and increased sphingomyelin levels in cell membranes. Accordingly, there is a long felt need for discovering new compositions and methods that can achieve such therapeutic effects in patients with depression or related disorders or diseases.
The present invention as disclosed and described herein provides methods and compositions for a combination therapy that can be used to treat or ameliorate symptoms of diseases related to seizures, Alzheimers, depression, and atherosclerosis while simultaneously addressing or clarifying or reducing higher sphingomyelin to phosphatidylcholine ratios in the cell membrane.